Belated Jurassic World Review

I was 11 in ’93 and Jurassic Park was my Jurassic World (see what I did there?!) I was totally blown away by the movie and as a result I was literally obsessed with all things dinosaur. My birthday that year was JP mad, everything had a dino on it and if the present wasn’t an action figure from a certain movie, I wasn’t really interested. As a result of JP, I read endless books on dinosaurs and absorbed facts like a sponge. I vividly remember writing a ‘what I want to be when I grow up’ piece at Hillcross Middle School stating that I wanted to be a palaeontologist, I still haven’t made it but there’s time! My love of Dinosaurs remained but the JP sequels didn’t capture my heart and mind like the original and then Jurassic World came along…

The concept of re-spawning the dinosaurs and containing them in a animal/theme park is an awesome one. I genuinely felt said for Hammond in JP, seeing his dream so close to fruition, only to be ripped to shreds by Raptor claws. So when Jurassic World introduces us to an established, open and running park, I was presented with a feeling of great achievement for the fictional Hammond, he would have loved it!

This film is littered with lovely nods to the original movie, each brought a little grin to my face and a wonderful rush of nostalgia. The early shot of a clawed foot which when the camera widens out turns out to belong to a bird is a charming link to Dr Grant’s (not me, I haven’t made it to palaeontologist yet, remember?) theory on dinosaurs having an ancestral link to birds. Then there is the use of that glorious John Williams theme which literally sent shivers dancing in tune down my spine. I’ve been humming it ever since, to the annoyance of my Wife!

The Dinosaurs look stunning, the realism is superb and so many on display too. There are brilliantly fun ideas for how the dinos would be used as attractions from toddlers riding the backs of baby dinosaurs and a ‘Sea World’ with a Prehistoric splash zone!

Jurassic World like it’s predecessors presents a morality play, some human real life dramas, thrills, kills and a lot of bloody good fun too! Concluded with some stunning dinosaur on dinosaur action… no not in that sense!! You are left with a feeling that the franchise has been reborn into something potentially very special, we shall see. For now though a brilliant romp of a film, a true popcorn movie with a dino heart.